Gardner Chief of Staff to Run Campaign for Top GOP Senate Hopeful

Gardner’s Chief of Staff, Chris Hansen, is leaving the lawmaker’s office to run a U.S. Senate campaign in West Virginia

WASHINGTON — The chief of staff for Rep. Cory Gardner has agreed to run the campaign of a top Republican candidate for the open Senate seat in West Virginia.

Chris Hansen will serve as the campaign manager for Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a rising star among congressional Republicans who has held a competitive seat in and around the state capitol of Charleston for 13 years.

“Yes, that is the case,” Chuck Flannery, the political director of Capito’s Senate bid told TCO of Hansen’s new job.

Hansen’s last day with the Yuma Republican will be June 30th. Hansen left his post last year temporarily to run the campaign of Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora, who eked out a two-point victory over then state representative Joe Miklosi.

A February poll from Mark Blankenship Enterprises showed that Capito had a wide lead over several Democratic challengers for the 2014 race. Capito, 59, announced she would be a candidate for the seat last November, two months before Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller said he would not seek re-election.

Hansen first met Gardner before the then-35 year-old state legislator had won his primary race in his eastern Colorado district. Hansen had managed the campaign of a Republican House candidate who lost his primary, and while driving from Illinois to his home in San Diego, he stopped in to Yuma to meet Gardner.

Natalie Farr, a deputy chief of staff and former legislative director, will serve as Gardner’s new chief of staff. Hansen did not respond for comment.

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